Cruising to St Kitts, Barbados, Antigua, Grenada

[gcamp54]

I have a cruise scheduled with Royal Caribbean 2Jan19 with stops in St Kitts, Barbados, Antigua, and Grenada. Want to dive 2 of the 4 islands. There are no cruise excursions for this trip so I'm on my own to book the dives. I've read previous posts and got some good info. Thought I'd post the question about which two of these would you pick? I'm a little nervous about making it back on time so I'd like the shop to be close to the cruise terminals. The Grenada stop is later in the day with the ship being docked from 1200pm to 7pm. I'll be taking all my own gear. Any suggestions and insight would be greatly appreciated about recommended islands and shops I should schedule with.

Gordon

 

[yle]

I've been to St Kitts and Barbados several times each on cruise ship stops, diving every time and never had a problem.

In St Kitts I've used Pro Divers and Dive St Kitts. The Pro Divers shop is located on the west side of the harbor, while Dive St Kitts is east of the harbor (where the cruise ships dock in Basseterre.) Both shops provide transportation between the ship and the shop, and each is around a 5 minute drive.

Of the two shops, Pro Divers is more formal and Dive St Kitts is more laid back. I had good experiences with both... but personally I would go back to Dive St Kitts because I don't need to be baby-sat (and Pro Divers seemed to assume that they had to babysit everyone.) As for the diving... there are a handful of shallow wrecks nearby (including a bulldozer that somehow fell off a barge many years ago), and plenty of reef sharks too.

In Barbados I've used Roger's Scuba Shack the past couple times. They picked us up from the cruise ship terminal and brought us back; it was a relatively short drive (around 20 minutes.) Roger and his brother have been running their scuba business for nearly 40 years. It's a very cool shop with a great vibe. The guys crewing the dive boat were hilarious, in a good way; they knew how to make sure everyone had a good time while also taking care of their business (i.e. safe diving.)

As for the diving in Barbados... it was okay. There were a few decent wrecks, a fair amount of life... not the ultimate Caribbean diving locale, to be sure, but not disappointing either.

I've been to Antigua only once, many years ago, on a cruise ship stop, and it didn't make enough of an impression for me to offer any useful opinion. Never been to Grenada.

Hope this helps! Whatever you decide for your diving, I'm sure you'll enjoy.

 

[gcamp54]

Thanks yle,
Appreciate the reply. So far my research has shown that St Kitts is the best place to schedule a dive out of the 4. Dive St Kitts doesn't dive on Saturdays so Pro Divers is who I booked with. My boat doesn't get in until 0900 but they will wait for me and pick me up at the dock. Looking forward to it.
Gordon

 

[Altamira]

Dove with Aquanauts in Grenada, and had an excellent drift dive. We could only do one dive there because of the short time in port. I can highly recommend Aquanauts but have no idea what options they offer for an afternoon dive. They picked us up and returned us to port. Good luck.

 

[yle]

Dive St Kitts doesn't dive on Saturdays so Pro Divers is who I booked with. My boat doesn't get in until 0900 but they will wait for me and pick me up at the dock.

Since you're going with Pro Divers, I will add that one major advantage is that the owners, Margot and Auston, actively run the operation. The few times we've been out with them Margot was in the shop and Auston drove the boat (and led the dives.) Very useful when the owners are right there, because they're very interested in making sure everything is done well.